CHAPTER VI. 



MACHINERY IN TEXTILE AND OTHER MANUFACTURES. 



PREVIOUS to the last quarter of the past century 

 the work of carding of wool and cotton, of spin- 

 ning of yarn, and weaving of all textiles, were the 

 operations of purely hand labor. In England, in 

 1763, High invented the spinning jenny. Crompton, 

 in 1775, introduced the mule spinner, and in 1790 

 Arkwright introduced the power loom. These inven- 

 tions, with the introduction of Watt's engine, in 1783, 

 in steam carding and spinning, and Bell's cylinder 

 printing, in 1775, mark the commencement of the 

 world's use of machinery in textile manufactures. 



From the very earliest period in the history of the 

 American Colonies, not only was domestic or house- 

 hold manufactures almost universal, but companies 

 were engaged in the spinning of flax, wool, and cot- 

 ton. In 1638 a company of Yorkshiremen settled in 

 Rowley, Massachusetts, and engaged in the business ; 

 and in 1640 the General Court of that Colony encour- 

 aged that industry by bounties, followed almost im- 

 mediately by the Assembly of Connecticut. 



As early as 1775 a spinning jenny was put in oper- 

 ation in Philadelphia, followed by beginnings to man- 

 ufacture by machinery in 1780, in Worcester, Massa- 



136 



